The Rod of Gender Transformation Ch. 10

Rather than heading to the bathroom, Lucas furtively made his way into the depths of the women’s clothing section. Just getting jeans or something would really defeat the point, so he started looking through the skirts.

As he approached the gender-neutral changing room nearby with an armful of black skirts in various sizes–black went with everything, right?--he was met with a store employee putting clothes back onto hangers. She briefly glanced in his direction before going back to her work. Thank god for the indifference of most retail workers.

Most of the skirts really didn’t fit at all, assuming he was positioning the waistband anywhere near where intended, but one of them seemed decent. He posed for a moment, looking in the mirror. Should his t-shirt be tucked in? Probably right? Yeah, that looked a bit better.

Then he walked out of the changing room and, ignoring any slightly weird looks he was getting, went over to self checkout and bought the skirt, holding up the tag to the scanner. Finally, he headed to the food service area, where they sold shitty pizza and warm soft pretzels and soda. As he approached, he could see Brianna seated at one of the few little plastic tables, intently looking at a small notebook open in front of her. Next to the notebook sat two soft pretzels, completely untouched.

As Lucas arrived, Brianna didn’t seem to notice. “Hey!” he said, twice, before she finally glanced up.

“Oh, sorry I–Lucas, what? I thought you were going to the bathroom.”

Lucas shrugged, then sat down across from her and snagged a pretzel. “Little white lie,” he said before biting in.

“I–look, I know you think I’m a coward. You don’t have to rub it in my face by doing what I couldn’t,” Brianna said.

Lucas was a bit confused by her response. That wasn’t how he meant things at all. “No, no, Brianna… I was just trying to help, okay? I’m trying to show you that, like, the worst case scenario here really isn’t that bad. The absolute worst thing that’s happened to me is some weird looks. No one really cares that much.”

Brianna’s glare softened. “Bit of an odd way to be an ally, but I suppose I can appreciate the intent.”

“Are you going to have that pretzel?” Lucas asked, mouth full of his own half-chewed bready goodness. “They’re way better when they’re still warm.”

“Yes, yes. Sorry, I was distracted.”

“What’s in the notebook?” Lucas asked, gesturing in its direction with the remaining arc of pretzel grasped in his hand.

“Ah, just plans for potential future D&D sessions.” She rapidly closed the book as Lucas leaned over to try to read it upside down. “No spoilers!”

“Okay, sorry,” Lucas said, laughing.

They sat there in silence for a moment as Lucas finished his pretzel while Brianna started on hers.

“What do you want to do after you finish that?” Lucas asked.

Brianna fully finished chewing her current small mouthful before responding. “I… I supposed we can head back to look at clothing.” She leveled a serious look at Lucas and tentatively reached across the table to lay a hand on his shoulder. “Lucas… I really appreciate this. I don’t think I could do it alone.”

“No problem!” Lucas said. “You’re my friend, after all. Also, I didn’t realize how comfy skirts are.”

“It’s a good look,” Brianna said. “Although you might want to shave your legs next time.”